REVEALED: Why Enzo Maresca left Chelsea

Robin Bairner

2 Jan 2026 08:27 GMT
4 min read

Enzo Maresca, Chelsea, 2025/26 — © IMAGO

Enzo Maresca and Chelsea parted ways on New Year’s Day in an explosive start to 2026 at Stamford Bridge.

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In the Blues’ press release confirming the departure of Maresca, no reason was given as to why the Italian was leaving the club.

FootballTransfers exclusively revealed that there had been a falling out behind the scenes with a senior figure at the club and that Strasbourg head coach Liam Rosenior has been lined up to take command.

What happened with Maresca?

Firstly, Chelsea did not sack Maresca. Instead, he resigned from his position at the Premier League side.

“The latest information I have is that Enzo Maresca decided to step down as he felt his position was untenable. It doesn’t usually happen that a Premier League boss walks away from the club,” Sky Sports chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol explained.

“But I believe it is not as clear-cut as that. Chelsea were considering making a change. There were issues with results and comments he made in the media, and also the fact he had been linked with other jobs.”

© IMAGO - Enzo Maresca: Walked away from Chelsea

So why did Maresca quit?

Maresca’s relationship with those at the top of the club had deteriorated in recent weeks, with L’Equipe pinpointing chairman Behdad Eghbali as the chief source of strife for the manager.

Eghbali had been pressing Maresca into giving more playing time to Chelsea’s extremely young summer signings, which the club spent nearly €300 million on in the summer of 2025.

Among those not given enough of a chance in the chairman’s eyes have been Jorrel Hato, Jamie Gittens, Facundo Buonanotte and even Andrey Santos.

“Eghbali was not pleased. He wants results, but also financial gains… Privately, he demands greater rotation in the use of these players to showcase their potential. And, in his view, Maresca wasn't doing enough to achieve this,” the French source reports.

Chelsea's underused youngsters? Five signings Eghbali wanted to see more of

	Fee	Appearances	Minutes
Jorrel Hato	€44.2m	9	618
Andrey Santos	€12.5m (2023)	20	876
Jamie Gittens	€56m	22	948
Facundo Buonanotte	Loan	7	446
Liam Delap	€35.5m	13	558

Conversely, Sky Sports reports that the issues that the former Leicester boss had were with medical staff.

"The Italian had several disagreements with the Chelsea medical department about the fitness and availability of players during his time at the club, including the minutes played by captain Reece James, who has a history of hamstring injuries," it claims.

Chelsea have yet to comment on the situation, having not explained the reasons for Maresca’s exit in their 99-word announcement.

What now for Chelsea?

FootballTransfers exclusively reported that Rosenior is set to step into the void at Chelsea, and this has been confirmed by L’Equipe.

“If they’ve dismissed Maresca, it’s because they’ve already got an agreement with a coach,” an unnamed source explained.

Rosenior is set to take his coaching staff with him to Chelsea, who “couldn’t care less” about the knock-on effect that the deal will have with BlueCo sister club Strasbourg in Ligue 1.